Sex, Genes and Arms Control

A survey of the Scientists’ Bookshelf in the 1960s and 1970s reveals some of the preoccupations of the day: alternative energy sources, urbanization, the impacts of computers on human life. Although the tone of the discussion may seem a bit naive compared to contemporary discourse, the contrast highlights the fact that we are still grappling with those subjects. The archives offer perspective on language as well: In the 1970s, Bookshelf reviewers had already begun to use a few of the well-worn phrases that now frequent reviews across venues. (We’ll let you spot those yourself.)

We’ll post some additional reviews from the 1940s to the 1980s at the Scientists’ Bookshelf Online. As always, all reviews published from 1998 to the present are freely available here. And—if I may briefly editorialize—I encourage interested readers to try writing criticism themselves. As a letter writer in this issue of the magazine points out, book reviewers have become a rare, as well as a rarefied, lot.—Anna Lena Phillips